


Group Projects are Hell

by SkullWoggle



Series: The Vampair Series x Reader Highschool AU Stories [1]
Category: The Vampair series
Genre: AU, Gen, High School AU, Other, bad boy, group project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:54:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23435734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkullWoggle/pseuds/SkullWoggle
Summary: You're assigned to work on a group project with the mysterious boy, Duke Devouts. You find out the hard way that he's not as academically motivated as you. But does that change what you start to feel about him?
Relationships: X Reader - Relationship, duke x reader, oc x canon - Relationship, reader x canon - Relationship
Series: The Vampair Series x Reader Highschool AU Stories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1664248
Kudos: 2





	Group Projects are Hell

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first, chronologically speaking in my fanfiction series FYI. Missi appears as one of your friends. And no, Duke and Missi never get involved.

It’s third period biology class, and your teacher begins to discuss your next project. You’re not the biggest fan of projects, unless it is about a topic of interest. But you’re excited because it’s a partner project, which means you can team up with someone to help you. That’ll be fun, right? Your teacher speaks up.

“Okay class, we will be doing research on different rocks and minerals. I’m gonna assign you each a crystal and your partners…..okay. *Y/N* *L/N* and Duke DeVouts.” 

You look around to see who he’s referring to. You turn to see a tall, extremely lanky boy with sunglasses, a black trilby hat with a skull on it, a black New Division shirt, black skinny jeans with chains in the pocket, pale skin, black stubble, and…..pointy ears? Or just very large ears. You don’t know. He gives off this intense, indifferent vibe, rather unapproachable. You take a deep breath. Okay, so he may be friendlier than you think. Appearances often lie, don’t they? You walk over to where he’s sitting and pull out the rubric and requirements. You start to make casual conversation.

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

“Duke DeVouts?”

“Mmmhmm. *Y/N Y/LN*?”

“That’s me!” you shake his hand firmly and a little too excitedly, much to his surprise and mild annoyance. When you notice him raising his eyebrow in confusion, you awkwardly let go of his hand. You start talking again.

“Soo…..we’re doing the mineral pearl….do you like pearls? My mom loves them! She has at least like, what, five necklaces with pearls? Hahahahhahah.”

“Mmmhmm.”

“So yeah. What periods and days are you free to work on the project together? I have 5th period free today-”

“I’m in Economics class.”

“When’s your free period?”  
He sighs. “The closest I have is chorus. Like I could see if I can get out of it.”

“Which one is that?”

“7th period.”

“Crap! I have history then!”

Duke huffs and rolls his eyes. “Guess we’ll have to meet up after school and….on the weekends.” he says with disgust. 

You shrug. “What days are you available after school? I’m available save for Wednesday nights, I have Anime Club.”

He raises his eyebrows in interest. “Ah cool. I like anime. Hellsing, Blood Plus, Berserk, Vampire Hunter D, Bleach, Cowboy Bebop....” he stopped himself as he noticed he was getting off track. “Umm…...hmmm….Monday and...if necessary, Friday.”

“What about weekends?”

Duke sighed. “I’ll meet on Saturday and Sunday if need be but I work those nights.” 

“Okay. So, should we meet later in the library?”

Duke sighs. “Fine. Was hoping not to get this thing started so soooooon, but since you’ve twisted my arm…” You give him a stern look. “Hey, at least we’re getting ahead on it. See you after school?”

“Mkay.”

*LATER AFTER SCHOOL* 

It’s been almost twenty minutes. While you were able to get some of your other homework done, you’re still wondering where the heck he is. All of a sudden he rushes through the door and he walks up to you. 

“Sorry…..sorry…..I thought you meant the school library!”

“I meant the PUBLIC library…..”  
“You never said that…”

Realizing your error, you slap your hand to your forehead and groan. “Dammit! I’m an idiot. Well, since we’re here, we should start doing some research…” You search up facts about pearls, specifically interesting or unusual facts about them. Duke opens up a browser on the computer next to you and starts searching. As you’re writing down facts, Duke speaks up.

“So…..*Y/N*? Aren’t you in Dunham’s class with me?”

“Mmmhm. Actually, I never noticed you really until now….”

“Guess I’m not super memorable…” joked Duke. 

“No...I just haven’t known you well as we never really…..talked…”

“Isn’t she a bitch?!”

You nod in agreement, but are also trying to focus on your work. “I’m always tense in that class. You never know when she’s gonna scream or throw chalk at you.”

“Didn’t she make you cry once?” You blink and then remember what he’s talking about. “Ohhhhh yeah. My homework and the folder it was in fell out of my binder, and when I got upset about it she told me to ‘control my emotions.’ She has no right to talk!”

“As volatile as a nuclear bomb. Granted, you were a hysterical sobbing mess and you had to be led into the hall to calm down.”

“Hey….”

“And to think my dad called her hot!” Duke shook his head. “He just liked the fact that she was wearing a low cut blouse and a short skirt when he met her at open house night!”

“EWWWWWW!” you say squirming.

“Who the fuck would want to hit a chiuhaha that swallowed a foghorn?!” Duke snickered. “He’s just being the desperate single dad he is...oh, *Y/N*, wanna see what I found for pearl’s cleavage?”

“Oh, sure! I can add it to my notes!”  
“Voila!”

“EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!” you squeal as Duke turns the monitor to you, showing a picture of a very scantily clad buxom woman in a bikini. Duke laughs at your embarrassment and you grab his hat and pull it over his head, resulting in the library giving you two a stern look and hushing you. 

“Children! This is an educational facility! The playground is outside if you want to play!” You shoot Duke a nasty look. Duke chuckles at you.

“Sorry. Couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Heheehheh.”

“You’re so immature! How old are you?!?”

“Just turned 17.”

“So you’re a junior in a freshman science class?!?” you ask.

Duke sighs. “I moved from another school out of state so I didn’t take this class.” he rolls his eyes. “I know, it’s weird. My dad hates it because he doesn’t want people to think I’m stupid.” he huffs as he turns back to the screen. You sigh and check Wikipedia for ACTUAL information about pearl’s cleavage.

“Well you look at that.” you say. “Pearl has no cleavage.”

“So for the presentation maybe I could get two pearls and put them on my nipples!”

“Don’t you dare!” you hiss. “I am not getting a bad grade on this!”

“We’re not getting a bad grade, Stuffy McStuffypants! Sheesh. Okay, you’ll handle details and hardness and luster and whatever. I’ll handle the fun facts. Deal?” 

You sigh, unsure of whether you want to put any of your faith in this dork who dresses like a reanimated corpse and flashes you random pics of boobs when you’re trying to work. “Fine. But be serious. Also, we should exchange numbers, so we can text and have less miscommunications from now on. And, we should try to meet again on Friday here after school.”

“Whaaaaaaat?!? But the project isn’t due for another two weeks!” 

“Two weeks flies by, especially in high school.”

He groans. “Okay. Whatever. Just….give me your digits. Honestly, these days just drag on if anything….”

*ON FRIDAY*

You’re having lunch with your friends Russell Ramsen and Melissa “Missi” Dumarias. You notice Duke walking out of the lunch line and wave him over. He notices, looks around to see if you’re waving at someone else, shrugs then walks over. Russell is wrapping up one of his anecdotes. 

“And after that, I wasn’t allowed to watch the Care Bears Movie for weeks. Thankfully now I can look at those pastel colored things and not flinch buuuuuut….” Duke looks at Russell and blinks. Russell notices Duke and tilts his head. “Ummmmm…...hi?”

“Duke, this is Russell and Missi. Missi and Russell, Duke. We’re doing a project together. And I’m glad to know we have the same lunch period! That way we can touch base, or even meet during lunch if worse comes to worse.”

Duke rolled his eyes. “Great. I can throw away my only period where I have any peace of mind.” He flicks a French fry to the ceiling. He turns to Missi and flashes her a smirk and a wink. Missi responds with a furrowed brow, mentally stating “Why are you flirting with me, I just met you, there’s no way in hell I’m interested.” Picking up on this, Duke frowns and sighs, and goes back to staring at the ceiling. You break the silence.

“So Duke, just a reminder that we should meet at the PUBLIC library after school today at the same time as I planned on Monday. Remember to come precisely at-”

“I can’t do today.”

“What?!?”

“I’m sorry, something came up.”

“You could’ve texted me, you had all week!”

“Okay one, sometimes my bosses don’t give me advance notice, two, I forgot, honest mistake and three, you need to CHILL. We’ll get it done.”  
“Well, have you made any progress on your part of the work? I’d like to see what you’ve written...”

Duke went silent. He started tapping his fork and looking up towards the ceiling.

“Duke….?” 

He makes a noise with his tongue and sighs. “Yeah. Oops.” 

“You mean you haven’t had any time to work on it during your free periods?!?”

“I’ve had other homework assignments from different classes, *Y/N*! That have closer due dates between each other? You should know how academically competitive this goddamn place is!”

Russell raised his eyebrows. “Duke! Language!”

“Chill, Weird Al!” Duke retorts, pointing to Russell’s Hawaiian print shirt. “Everyone cusses in high school! Hell, you hear every cuss word there is known to man by middle school!”

“Okay, leave Russell alone! Point is, we need to make time for this weekend to work on the project and catch up.”

“Whaaaaat?!? But there goes my whole weekend plans!” whined Duke. 

“Well, are they movable? Are they important? Like Duke, I won’t make you work at night since you usually work or whatever. This would be during the day!”

“But I sleep in on weekends!”

“Well you can suck it up and get up early and then sleep later!”

“But I work from 8 PM to 4 AM!”

“But you said you’d be able to!”

“Look, we can just do it next Monday after school, okay?! God, you can wait a weekend!” Duke threw down his tray and stomped out of the cafeteria in a huff, not before taking your cupcake passive-aggressively. You sit there fuming in silence until Missi speaks up.  
“Looks like a real winner.”

“Hence why I don’t do group projects anymore.” added Russell.

*THE FOLLOWING MONDAY*

You haven’t heard from Duke since the fight in the cafeteria. You haven’t texted him since Sunday just to double check that you two were meeting, and no response. While you want to make sure you guys are still on, you still feel uneasy. You pray that he’s not pissy at you when you head into science class that morning. You sit at your usual spot, and wait for him, wanting to get it over with. When he walks in he sits next to you. 

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Sooooo….I texted you last night about today..”

“I’ll be there. You want me to drive you there?”

“Well, I can walk there…”

“No, sweetie, I’m sorry for being a dick on Friday. I’ll make it up to you. I can even treat you to dinner if you’d like?”

“Fine. I don’t know about dinner, I’d have to let my parents know.”

“Sure. They probably won’t mind.”

*AFTER SCHOOL*

You stand outside of the high school, waiting for Duke. BEEP BEEP! You jump and turn around and it’s him, sitting in his car waving. You hop in his passenger seat nervously. He smirks at you.

“Man, you’re easily frightened! You should’ve seen how high you jumped when I beeped at you! It’s kind of cute really.”

“Okay.” You drive over to the library in silence. When you get there, you see that it’s been closed. You look at the sign.  
“Crap! Power outage.” 

Duke shrugs. “My place?”

You get a bit nervous. You’re going to a guy’s house that you barely know who looks like a horror movie villain. Buuuut, it IS for a group project, and for school. But still you’d want to use your best judgement.

“Will anyone be home?”

“Sadly.” Duke huffed. “Dad. He’ll probably be sleeping, but my house is big enough so we have our own space.” He drives you over to his house, which is located on the nicer side of town. When you pull up to his house, you are shocked at its size. 

“Wow! It’s beautiful!”

“Yep. Pretty cool, huh?”

“It’s like a castle!” 

“You could say that.”

“Just you and your father? In all of that space?”

“Yep.”

He parks the car and leads you into his house. You are taken aback in admiration of the stairs in the foyer, and walk up the stairs into his room. You look inside and it has red walls, covered in band, movie and anime posters. You marvel at everything, not minding the clothes thrown all over the floor. 

“Pardon the mess.” He sits down and opens up his laptop. You pull up a black circular cushion chair and sit near him. You can’t help but notice that Duke isn’t all that hard on the eyes. His angular cheekbones, sharp eyebrows, jet black messy hair, and brooding….brown? Amber?....eyes. He notices you staring and smiles a bit, showing a bit of his teeth….that look oddly sharp? He turns towards you.

“Now... let’s get down to business!”

*ONE AND A HALF HOURS LATER*

You guys are all caught up on your research. You’re impressed that he was able to focus and not go on any side-bars about teachers or classmates you guys hate, hobbies and interests, or making jokes about cleavage. After a while you stretch your arms and sprawl out on his bed. He sits down near you, sitting near your head. 

“Comfy?”

“Yeah. All that sitting makes me sleepy.”

“Try not to fall asleep my pet. I doubt dad or your folks would be cool about us sharing a bed.” he chuckled. 

“My dad would FLIP A SHIT if I was sharing a bed with someone my age, unless it was Missi or Russell at a sleepover.”

“Speaking of which…..does Missi hate me?”

“....why?”

“She kind of gave me a dirty look at the lunch table on Friday. And Russell didn’t seem too happy about me either.”

“I don’t think Russell was too keen about you getting in his face and Missi wasn’t happy about you being a dick. Also, she could tell you were flirting with her. I vented to her about you (I’m sorry, I was pissy about it) and she has no interest in you whatsoever.”

“But does she hate me?”

“Well….you made a horrible first impression….wait, why does it matter?” you ask suspiciously.

“N-no reason! I just….felt badly for being mean, that’s all.” You look up at him and give him a disbelieving look. 

“What?!?”

“Nothing. You seem a bit….flustered.”

Just as Duke is blinking furiously trying to change the subject, his father walks in.

“Aaaah. Hey Duke, you didn’t tell me you were bringing company. This a friend or something?”

“This is *Y/N*. We’re working on a school project.”

“Are you sure, *Y/N* looks a little too comfortable….”

“Dad!”

“Careful son, I don’t want you giving yourself away to random people…”

“What’s THAT supposed to mean?!?” Duke stood up and crossed his arms.

“Nothing, nothing Duke. Just be careful about who you get close to, the world’s full of people who’ll try to get in your good graces and then turn on you.”

Your eyes widen. Was his dad insinuating that you were gonna betray and hurt Duke? And that you were….you know…..oh God. That’s just gross. You barely know him! And you’re in ninth grade for Pete’s sake! You sit up and stare across at the computer processing what he just said and letting it get under your skin. 

“Dad, it’s none of your business who I hang out with. If anything, *Y/N*’s a pretty good influence. If it weren’t for *Y/N*, I probably wouldn’t have gotten so far on this project!”

“For Chrissake’s Duke, you don’t have to turn everything into a fight around here!” boomed Duke’s dad.

“Dad! I-I-I wasn’t! I was just saying…”

“Don’t use that tone on me, especially in front of your….science partner? Whatever. Pick up your clothes, you’re a fuckin’ slob...” He walked out of Duke’s room. You sit there awkwardly and glance briefly at Duke. He’s fuming, but he’s trying to keep it all under control for your sake. He speaks up.

“Let’s go. We can stop and get something on the way to your house, or I can just bring you straight home.” You pick up your stuff, and head out towards the car. It’s mostly silent on the way home until Duke speaks up.

“I’m sorry you had to see that. He’s…difficult. Yeah. Don’t take that shit he said personally, *Y/N*, you’re a good person. You’re good to your friends, you’re smart, you know what you’re doing with your life and I’m…..” he sighs, making a clicking noise with his tongue. “A fuckup.”

“No you’re not! You made up to me so much through all you’ve done today!”

“*Y/N*, if you knew the real me, you would think I was a fuckup.”

“Isn’t that true for all of us though?” you ask. Duke shrugs, making a half-hearted grunt. You opt to head straight home as not to worry your parents and Duke pulls into your driveway. 

“See you in school.” He looks at you with a sad smile on his face. You get out of the passenger seat, open up the door on his side and give him a hug. Taken aback, Duke looks at you, blushing a bit.

“What’s that for!??!”

“Nothing. Can’t I just thank you?” All of a sudden-

“BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!”

“AUUUUGH!” you turn around a jump at the sight of your dad with one of his many power tools, trimming a branch of a tree near Duke’s side of the car. You sigh in frustration. 

“Daaaaaad!”

“Sorry! The branch was in the way! I didn’t see you there!”

You wave bye to Duke, your stomach full of butterflies.

*LATER THAT WEEK* 

You haven’t been yourself lately. But...you’ve been better. It took you awhile for you to admit it, but….you were developing feelings for your group project partner. You tried to deny it, but after that one dream you had where you two were making out in a black lake you knew it was real. You two have gotten closer and closer, talking during downtime in science class about what movies made you cry, what bands your parents hate you blasting, and complaining about stupid people at school. Duke even went out of his way to stop by your table at lunch and apologize for being such a dick to Russell and Missi. While Russell was glad he apologized, Missi was still a bit suspicious. Everything seemed to be going smoothly in life for once, until on the Sunday before your presentation is due, you get a call from Duke.

“Hello?”

“Hi, *Y/N* I have some bad news. You may wanna sit down. Please don’t be mad.”

Considering how he usually doesn’t call you via cellphone to chat, you figure it’s about the project. “What happened…?”

Duke takes a deep breath then sighs. “My notes…..for the project….blew out of my backpack…and flew into my neighbor’s pool.” He pauses to catch his breath. “I knew I should’ve fixed the zipper on my backpack! Urrrgh! I’m so sorry! I’m such a fuckup!”

You exhale for about a minute. “Well, do you at least remember what sites you got your facts from? Like on your laptop?”

“I-I don’t know…”

“Duke, you can re-research them. Like check your search history…”

“I use incognito mode so my history doesn’t show up!”

You sigh, frustrated but feeling sympathy for him as you can hear the pain in his voice. “I think I can remember what sites you used..”

“But *Y/N*! Are you sure you really want to do all that work?!”

“I have nothing going on tonight, and I can pull an all nighter. Trust me, I’ve done it before.”

“No! I fucked up, I owe it to you! I’ll see if I can get out of the class before science! Trust me. I got to get to work, sweets. Bye.”

“Bye Duke.” You’re unsure whether or not to trust him with this task as things have been going wrong. But considering how sincere he sounded, you decide to give him a chance. What could possibly go wrong?

*THE NEXT DAY* 

You are dressed nice for your class presentation. While you made an excuse to use the bathroom during class to see how Duke was coming along in the library and he was super productive (no open computer windows of anything unrelated in sight!), you’re still worried about how he’s doing. Right before class starts, he runs in bringing papers of his factoids in. He’s breathing heavily.

“Okay…..fun facts…..your important main facts….stapler….OW!.... All together now! Hhahahah.” He headdesks your table exhausted. 

“Duke? Duke? You okay?”

“Oh oh, yeah I’m fine. Here. I brought some clams. Cuz pearls are made from clammies, right? Hahhaha.” You organize your presentation notes, clams, and get ready to present. You quickly shake Duke awake. 

“Duke, we’re on.”

“Oh!” Duke wakes up. “Okay.”

You walk up to the projector, and set up your Powerpoint. You start speaking.

“Hi. My name is *Y/N* and today we are going to talk about pearls. Pearls come in varying sizes and colors, and are made by clams.”

“Clams are good because they taste like beach!” remarked a half awake Duke. 

“They also have no cleavage…”

“LIKE MY AUNT GLORIA!” shouted Duke, laughing like a drunkard at his own joke. You take a deep breath and get through the rest of the presentation without a hitch. Until near the end, Duke pulls out one of his clams and starts using it like a puppet. 

“This is my girlfriend, Clamantha. We’re gonna get married, have babies, and take a dump on the mayor’s front lawn! Hhahahahah!” Duke proceeds to fall over backwards landing on the floor with a hard thud. The teacher bends over to make sure he’s okay.

“Duke? Duke Devouts?”

“Mommy….?”  
“Someone take him to the nurse. He may have a concussion, mixed with last second project burnout…”

*LATER DURING LUNCH*

You head to the nurse’s office to check on Duke. He’s lying on a cot with an ice pack on his head. He notices you and smiles.

“How’d we do?”

“Uh…...well it was good for the most part! I mean, aside from your relevant outbursts, I feel like I did a good job.”

“I barely remember what I said. I just remember getting up, clams, you talking, WHOMP! Out like a light.”

You shrug. “Hopefully we’ll get a C- or up. At least it’s over and done with.” You sit down on the cot next to him. He sighs. 

“I’m a pretty rotten project partner, am I?”

You smile. “Even though you’re a rotten science partner, you’re still a good friend.” You pause a bit and then gain some nerve. “So….Duke….are you single?”

His face lights up. “Yep. Why...do you ask?”

You peck him on the forehead. “So I could do that. And I’m also single.”

He smiles a 100 watt smile. “Honey, no no. Lemme show you how it’s done.”

He pulls you into a kiss. You spend a good two minutes in said embrace until the nurse comes in.

“HEY! GET OFF HIM! NO KISSING INCAPACITATED STUDENTS!”

“Don’t worry, I feel much better now.”

THE END


End file.
